No sleep till...

So all that talk of having a wonderful happy baby may have given me the jinx.
Oh, he's still wonderful and happy mostly all the time, but he's totally not falling into any long restful sleep pattern.
I've been successful in working some sort of night time routine.
Bath and a Meal with Bed time following around 8 or 9 every night.  Sometimes we are off by a half an hour or so, but that's fine.  The first sleep stint usually last around 3 or 4 hours, then it's every two hours.  Sometimes less and sometimes he doesn't want to go right back down, so I end up sleep-rocking him.  (By that, I mean I usually fall asleep sitting up while rocking him)
What gives?
He's a chunker so while Boo seems to be the nickname that rolls of the tongue the most, we also like to call him 'The Meat'.
Naturally, The Meat needs to keep up appearances so each of these wake periods he eats...a lot.  I haven't caved with bringing him into my bed and I'm not going to. I know this would give me a few more hours, but I also learned from past experiences that once done, this is hard to undo.
How long could this possible last?
We started giving him cereal and it makes absolutely no difference.
I mean, he scarfs it down, but he's still wakes up wanting to eat at the same time.  I believe I may have created a human garbage disposal.  I'm not even sure if the 'cry it out' method would even work in this situation.  I would probably only succeed in waking the rest of the house.
For now, I guess I'll just see where we end up.  He's almost 5 months, so I think we are still with in the average as far as sleep.

Another little treat The Meat has been testing out is the capacity and limits of his lungs and vocals.  He can make such a high pitched sound that it almost silences out for a few seconds in each yell interval.  He loves it.  It cracks him up. He's totally discovered that voice and must know how far he can take it.
Maybe I'll have a rock star.  :)

Just to keep current with brotherly love...
Ryder has been so unbelievable.  I had hoped that they would like each other, but all my expectations have been exceeded.  Ryder talks to the baby all the time and the baby actually pays attention.  He'll say, "Hi, Boo!" and the baby's eyes will light up.  They smile at each other and get each other cracking up.  When big brother walks around the room, Tyce will follow him around with his eyes.
And sometimes Ryder can calm him down when no one else can.  It's fantastic.
I just love watching them interact with each other, it melts my heart.  (and I can manage to squeeze in a few chores)

I'm amazed every day.

I just love those two boys.

He's finally here...

Last Tuesday, January 24 at 4:17am our baby boy finally arrived and he is a dream!

....getting to the end result wasn't so dreamy.

On Monday morning we headed to our weekly check up at the doctor's office.  Since I was already late and everything was set with my body being ready, we were instructed to head over to the hospital.  After a quick detour of breakfast, we checked in and filled out all the fun paperwork.  
Our hospital room was fantastic..huge and as homey as a hospital room can be.  There were tons of different seating options for my Hubs, which is good because it was gonna be a long day/night....

They got me all hooked up on the IV and at about noon started on the pills.  I guess the new hip thing is to get a pill every four hours which helps induce labor.  (They have found that this gradual process is way, way better than just hitting you hard with the pitocin.)   Since I didn't feel the first four hours of contractions, I tend to agree with the experts.  Time passed and I got another pill.  While I sorta dossed off, the Hubs paced around and ordered a pizza.   I guess at around 6pm the pain started getting serious, so I opted for the drug that "takes the edge off".  That's what the nurses say, I say it's like a 6 pack straight to the head.  Either way, I felt better, like we were having our own little party in the room.  At about 9ish, the party was over and the pain was intense...I opted for the epidural.  Mind you, this was my plan all along.  I have done this before and I know it hurts...I wanted to skip the hurt part and enjoy the giving birth part.  I didn't get the epidural for another hour or so (not my choice), so I did get a big taste of contractions.  No thank you.....on to more glorious things.  The epidural kicks in...it's amazing.  It totally boggles my mind how they ever figured out to put a needle straight in someone's spine..and who was the 1st person to say "oh yeah, I'll be the guinea pig."  I thank them all.  Glorious. 
So now we are all set...
I'm feeling good..it's time to start pushing and finally get the little guy out.
I push and push.
The doctor comes in to check on us and casually clicks off my epidural.  
Straight fear hits me..  the nurse must have seen my panic because he follows with, "Don't worry it takes a while for it to totally wear off."  So, I'm in good spirits again. kind of. After a bit I can feel a some pressure, which is actually good, because I can get more accomplished in the whole pushing department.  After a while longer I can feel more pressure and some pain.
After a while longer, pain.  Lots of pain.  I'm in full blown panic mode again.  The baby is not out, the epidural is gone...no mas drugs.  
Holy Crap!  This cannot be happening.  This is so so not one of the ways I had this going in my mind.  No way.
Oh, yes way.  Whether I like it or not, we are moving forward with this.
I'll spare you the full details, but let's just say that there was A LOT  of cursing and yelling to turn the dang epidural back on.  And then just some general cursing and yelling.  Lots of pain....and some barf.
No time they say, no time.   even if they turn on the drugs, they won't have time to kick back in..
Oh, there was time...a couple of hours later, with the assistance of the 'vacuum' our beautiful baby boy was finally welcomed into the world.  
He's perfect, I love him instantly!
The mood in the room is happy and blissful..mostly. Mostly, except I'm now getting stitches, several of 'em (1st gift from the miracle) with no drugs.  Ouch..but at this point I think I'm delirious.  I'm now yelling at the doctor for something, numb me, stop, something,  God Bless the nurses..especially the pro they sent in at the end.  Talk about getting me to focus away from the pain.  And I couldn't forget my wonderful Hubs....what a trooper!  Luckily, all the hospital birth stuff doesn't gross him out or make him queasy in the least.  He was right with the nurses, holding legs, swapping out cold wet rags for my face, handing the doc utensils, he even got to cut the cord.  What a proud, proud papa!!

   And what a wonderful little cherub we have been blessed with!!

 He even managed to give us a smile on day 2 of life.
At 8lbs 7oz he was a bit bigger than his older brother at birth.
Yet he decided that he would enter the world el naturale.
Although, I will give him some credit for not trying to top the 20hrs of his bother's production. 
I'm not saying that I'm sure I'm ready to do it again, but there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING that is more gratifying than seeing your child for the first time.  Nothing in the entire world.  My husband and I now, for second time, know how amazing having a child is!
LOVE. PURE AND INSTANT LOVE.






Now I will begin the process of healing.  Looks like I will have the preggo waddle for a bit longer than I intended....but...I have another wonderful, beautiful, perfect baby boy that I grew (after the help of my husband) in MY belly.   It truly, truly is a miracle of life.




We are so so blessed to have two miracles and I am thankful for that every single day!!